Donald Trump gave Saudi Arabia the benefit of the doubt in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi despite mounting criticism from US lawmakers and Western pressure to provide answers.
“I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump told the Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that.”
Trump then made reference to his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court, which ran into trouble in the Senate after several women came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct before Kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed.
Earlier, in a Twitter post, Trump said that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied knowing what happened in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where Khashoggi vanished two weeks ago after going there to collect documents he needed for his planned marriage.
Turkish officials believe the Saudi journalist might have been murdered and his body disposed, which the Saudis have strongly denied.
Khashoggi, a resident of the US wrote columns for the Washington Post and was critic of the Saudi government.
Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate. He was with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2018
“Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump also wrote that the crown prince “told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.”
-Reuters
